Budapest
by Dancingqueen4Life
Summary: So what the hell actually happened in Budapest? My version of what went down.


**Here it is, the surprise story I promised you guys at the end of my one-shot week. I don't know how surprising this story really is, so sorry if you guessed what it would be. I've been trying to write this story for such a long time, and this is definitely the best version I've come up with. Enjoy!**

* * *

Phil ran into medical, determined to kill anyone dumb enough to get in his way. He wasn't frantic by any means, but the fact that he was as calm as he was, given everything that had just happened, was even more terrifying than any other alternatives.

"Where are they?" He asked the receptionist.  
"Barton's in 324, Romanoff's in 325." She stammered.  
"Why the fuck are they in separate rooms?" He demanded.  
"SHIELD protocol states that…"  
"Do I look like I give a fuck about protocol? They're my agents, and when they wake up, they'll be pissed when they don't see each other. So get them a room together."

The receptionist nodded weakly and made a phone call. When she was done, she told Phil to wait 5 minutes before making his way to room 341.  
Phil nodded and started walking down the hall. He found the room, and when he entered, he finally smiled as he saw the two agents lying in their beds. They would have looked peaceful, if they weren't both in a coma.  
Phil put a chair in between their beds and sat down, shaking his head. "What am I going to do with you two?" He whispered.

* * *

_"Clint! What are you doing?" Natasha shrieked as my fingers continued their attack on her waist.  
"What do you think I'm doing, Tasha? I'm tickling you."  
"Why?!" She shrieked again, trying her best not to laugh.  
"My guess is because he thought it would be funny. If you two are done, Fury wants to see you." Phil interrupted from the doorway.  
"Wow, Phil. Great timing." I said, shooting my handler an evil glare. It would have been more effective I'm sure, if I wasn't also trying not to smile at Phil.  
"I do my best." Phil replied, smiling at Nat and I._

_Natasha and I sighed and stood up from the couch and followed Phil down the hallway to the conference room Fury was waiting in.  
"Agents." He said by way of greeting. Natasha and I nodded in response and took our seats._

_"Imre Kovács has become a problem. His gunrunning business has caused the deaths of numerous civilians, he's dangerous and it's your job to take him out."  
"Where?" Natasha asked. She'd seen that he had many operating bases in various countries. The main one seemed to be in Hungary, and his name suggested that he was Hungarian. But it never hurt to ask._

_"Budapest." Fury affirmed.  
"When?" I asked.  
"2 hours." Fury replied. "Get in, kill the target, get out."  
We nodded as we read through the files in front of us.  
"Dismissed." Fury said, and we stood to leave.  
We walked down the halls silently, memorizing our covers. We quickly threw our things together, and made our way to the plane.  
"Ready, Tasha?" I asked as the plane took off.  
"Of course, Clint. What could possibly go wrong in Budapest?" She asked.  
If we'd only known._

* * *

Phil was sitting between the agents when the door opened and Fury walked in.

"What do we know?" He asked.  
"Not much. They had bad intel and walked into an ambush."  
"Did you hear anything?" He could tell Fury didn't blame him, but there was still accusation in his voice.  
"I did. I sent in a chopper with backup, but it got shot to hell. No survivors."  
"Shit." Fury muttered. Phil just nodded his agreement.  
"Keep me updated." Fury ordered. Phil nodded, and watched his boss walk out.  
"What the hell happened?" He muttered, holding his head in his hands.

_"Widow, we're blown." I heard Clint say.  
"What?" I hissed while taking down the last guard to Kovács' inner rooms.  
"I don't know how it happened, but there's reinforcements coming." He replied.  
"What do you want me to do?" I asked. I knew what I wanted to do, but I was no longer on my own. I had to think about the repercussions of my actions.  
"Take him down. We'll have to fight our way out either way. I'll cover you."  
I nodded, not entirely sure if he was watching me or the advancing mercs._

_Actually taking down Kovács was much easier than infiltrating his organization. It was just a matter of getting close enough to him to snap his neck. I made it out just as the mercs rounded the corner.  
Well, shit.  
"Hawkeye, I'm coming out." I said as I ran through the building.  
"Where?" He asked.  
"Third floor window, west side." I said.  
"The hell?" He asked. Well, at least I'd finally managed to surprise him.  
"It'd be nice if you'd catch me."  
"Give me 10 seconds." He said. I heard his quiver's noises as he attached a specialized tip to an arrow.  
"Go." He said._

_I ran the five steps I'd given myself and threw myself out the window. I was falling for a couple seconds before I was close enough for him to catch me. We continued sailing through the air on the wire he'd shot._

_"Too close, Nat." He whispered against my temple, a second before I felt his lips lightly brush the same area.  
"Sorry." I murmured. We were on the ground then, and took off running. I could hear the mercs behind us, and I knew he heard them too. We turned down an alley and found ourselves at a dead end.  
"Fuck." I hissed.  
"Later." He replied cheekily. I shot him a look, but his smile was infectious and a second later, I could feel my own smile crossing my face. But then I was reminded of our situation._

_"We need cover." I said. Clint was already working. He'd shoved a dumpster into the middle of the alley, and was working on moving another one. When he was done, we crouched behind them and made a plan. We knew Kovács had an army, and that we weren't going to be able to keep them off for long. But we just needed to hold them back long enough for Phil to send help._

_"How much ammo do you have?" Clint asked.  
"7 clips, plus the 5 bullets in my gun." I responded instantly. "You?"  
"Full quiver. I managed to save the grappling arrow."  
I nodded. He'd already radioed in to Phil, but we both knew it would be a while. We heard the mercs approaching, it was now or never. Clint leaned over and pulled my face to his. He pressed his lips firmly against my own, and I reciprocated. I put all my love and trust into that kiss, hoping- and knowing- he'd pick up on it._

_"I love you." He whispered.  
"I love you too." I answered. And I meant it, I really did.  
Any other time I would have reminded him that love was for children, but there was a distinct possibility that we wouldn't make it out of this, and I wanted him to know.  
He traced my cheekbone once, and then we clicked back to the mission at hand. We popped up at the same time and began taking down the enemy._

_15 minutes later we knew we were screwed. I had 2 clips left, and Clint was retrieving arrows where he could.  
"We need to get out of here, Hawk." I said through gritted teeth.  
"Agreed." He replied while knocking an arrow._

_He let it fly, and grabbed my arm, pulling me to the ground next to him. We heard the arrow hit, and Clint hit a button on his bow, causing it to explode. Right away, we were up and running out of the alley. I fired a few shots at the idiots dumb enough to think we wouldn't be able to see them. Once we were out of the alley, we continued running. We climbed over walls and cars and anything else in our way. We managed to get onto a roof, but if there were any snipers we were screwed._

_"Right there, Widow." He called.  
"I see it." I called. We jumped into the bell tower, grateful for the protection. For as ruthless as the mercs were, many were too devout to attack in a church, which meant Clint and I had time to regroup. It had definitely saved our asses on multiple occasions. We sat in the choir loft patching each other up the best we could._

_"Hey, Nat?" He asked softly.  
"Yeah?"  
"Remember Kiev?"  
"I do. Why?"  
"Remember what you agreed to?" He asked again.  
I felt a smile on my lips. "I do."  
"We could do it here." He said. He sounded hopeful, like he thought I'd say no.  
"We could."  
"Want to?" He asked, sounding extremely insecure.  
"That was a stupid question." I said, watching as the smile spread over his features._

_He grabbed my hand and pulled us down from the loft.  
The church was empty, save for the priest. He looked terrified when he saw us, and that's when I remembered that we looked like hell.  
"Békével jöttünk." Clint said, hands out and palms open. "Van egy szívességet kérni tőled." He said. '_We mean no harm. We have a favor to ask of you.'  
_"What can I help you with?" The priest asked in broken English.  
"Marry us." Clint said simply.  
"It will not be legal with no witnesses." The priest replied.  
"We don't need witnesses. It'll be legal for us." I said, smiling at the old priest.  
"Then God shall be our only witness." He said as he led us to the altar._

_We opted not to say our vows in front of him, and we hadn't had a chance to pick rings out yet. The priest was unaffected by this, and after a short time, we were pronounced married. Clint kissed me with all the passion he could muster, and I returned it. We broke apart and made our way back to the loft to gather our supplies._

_We had a fight to finish._

* * *

Maria was the next person to enter the room. She smiled when she saw him and made her way over. He opened his arms and she situated herself on his lap resting her head on his chest.

"I take it this means you're not coming home tonight?" She whispered.  
"I'm sorry, Maria. I need to stay with them."  
"I know. I'll stay too."  
Phil smiled and kissed her head as he hugged her tighter.  
"Why is it always them, Phil?" Maria whispered a while later.  
"I wish I knew, Maria." He replied.

* * *

_I watched as Nat was fighting the mercs that had surrounded us. I was still firing shots, but since we'd gotten married a few moments ago, some primal instinct had taken over and had me constantly checking to make sure she was ok._

_"Focus, Hawk." I heard her say, and I shook myself. I refocused on the mercs in front of us and concentrated on taking them down._

_That's when it happened.  
I was taking out the mercs closing in on me, and I'd missed the one that slipped through. The next thing I knew, Natasha was on the ground, bleeding heavily._

_"Widow!" I called. I knew she wouldn't be able to respond, but I needed to hear her voice just the same.  
When I heard nothing, I flipped. I took on of my remaining arrows and used it to slit the throat of every last enemy. It was vicious, and soon I was covered in blood. But I didn't care. Natasha was dead for all I knew, and they needed to pay.  
When they were down, I ran to Natasha's side. She'd been shot in the chest, dangerously close to her heart. Her eyes were open, and I could see the fear in them. As soon as she saw me, the fear started leaving, replaced with love and trust. I was yelling furiously into my earpiece, telling Coulson to get us the hell out of Budapest._

_"Clint." Natasha whispered.  
"Hang on, Nat. Phil's coming. You'll be ok, baby." I said as I pulled her closer to my body, burrowing my face in her hair.  
"I love you, Clint." She whispered.  
"Save it, Nat. You owe me vows, remember? Don't think you're allowed to die on me without telling me that you promise to love me forever."  
"What if that's not one of them?" She joked.  
"Oh, God, Nat. Please don't say that. Please don't." I cried.  
"Sorry."  
I was about to respond when I felt something rip through my stomach. I turned slightly and saw one of the mercs stumbling away. I grabbed Natasha's gun from her hand and shot him in the back of the head, sending him down immediately.  
I knew blood was gushing from both of us, and as much as I wanted to stay conscious, I knew I wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. Luckily, I heard the SHIELD agents running toward us._

_About damn time, I thought as I allowed the black to take over, and lay down next to my wife.  
At least I finally got her to marry me._

* * *

Suddenly, Clint's monitor flat lined. Before Phil or Maria could react, Natasha's was going crazy.

* * *

_I felt the bullet rip through my chest. It hurt like hell, it always did. I heard Clint yell my name, and while I tried to respond, I found that I couldn't get enough air to communicate._

_I knew the probability of making it out of this wasn't good, and I was terrified. Not of dying- I'd been around death too long to fear death. I was afraid of dying without Clint next to me. I knew that if I wasn't currently gushing blood, I would have worried about why I needed him so close to me, but at the moment, I was gushing blood, and just wanted him to hold me. _

_Finally, I caught his eyes, and I started to relax. I could make out the sounds of him yelling, but I didn't pay much attention._

_"Clint." I whisered.  
"Hang on, Nat. Phil's coming. You'll be ok, baby." He said as he pulled me closer to his body, burrowing his face in my hair.  
"I love you, Clint." I whispered, choosing to overlook the baby remark.  
"Save it, Nat. You owe me vows, remember? Don't think you're allowed to die on me without telling me that you promise to love me forever."  
"What if that's not one of them?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood.  
"Oh, God, Nat. Please don't say that. Please don't." He cried.  
"Sorry." I replied. I was really tired, but I knew Clint wouldn't let me sleep._

_I heard his sharp intake of breath, and felt him tug the gun from my hands. I heard him shoot once, and heard a thud as a body fell to the ground. At the same time, I felt blood pouring from his side. Of course he'd get himself shot when I was lying here dying. Typical selfish man, I thought as he shifted to lie next to me. I knew the moment he blacked out, and it terrified me. So I kicked him as hard as I could manage, and felt the relief wash over me as he started awake. I closed my eyes as he looked at me, the meaning clear in them 'You take first watch.'  
Clint blinked once, and I knew he'd understood my message. We'd fight like hell to get back.  
After all, we had vows to exchange._

* * *

Almost as soon as their monitors started flipping out, it was over. Their heartbeats went back to normal and the alarms stopped. It was silent for a second; save for the constant beeping signaling that they were in fact still alive. And then they screamed.

"CLINT!" Natasha screamed.  
"NATASHA!" Clint screamed at the same time.

They both sat upright in their beds, sweaty and breathing heavily. They looked around wildly until their eyes landed on each other. Without a word, Clint pulled the IVs out of his arm and pulled the monitor cords from his chest. He got out of the bed, and Phil caught him as he stumbled. Clint leaned on him as Phil led him to Natasha's bed, and Natasha shifted to give him room to sit next to her. Phil helped him into the bed, and Clint immediately had his arms around Natasha's shoulders. Phi and Maria watched them for a moment before leaving the room.

As soon as she heard the door close and lock, Natasha allowed the tears to slip from her eyes.  
"Oh, God, Clint." She whispered.  
"I know, Nat. I know."  
He kissed her head repeatedly, pulling her tightly to him.  
"I love you." She whispered.  
"I love you too." He whispered back. Slowly, they both fell asleep.

* * *

Later when they gave the formal debrief of what the hell happened in Budapest, Clint wouldn't say that when he thought Natasha had died, he'd considered taking her gun and ending his own life, knowing it would be too painful to live without her, even though he had.  
Natasha wouldn't say that she'd forced herself to stay alive until she could see Clint's eyes one last time, and tell her she loved him again, even though that's the only reason she lasted as long as she did.  
And neither would say that the first vow they'd said together when they finally had some time alone was that they'd try to always come home, even though it was.

So whenever they said something was like Budapest, everyone assumed they meant that they were dangerously outnumbered and running low on ammo.  
Nobody would dream that it was their way of telling each other that they were terrified, and didn't know if they'd make it out again. But it was. To them, Budapest was the fear of losing each other.  
It wasn't a pleasant feeling by any stretch of the imagination.

* * *

**There you go! I hope you guys liked my take on what happened in Budapest, and I hope it wasn't too complicated to follow. It starts around evening one day, and they're in a coma for about 24 hours. I know it was probably hideously fake in terms of the medical stuff, but I'm not a doctor, so I'm allowed to not have it be accurate.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


End file.
